Tourner Autour du Ried is a 20-Square-Meter Home Made of Corn Cobs!

StAndré-Lang Architectes was inspired by the corn dryers of Alsace to create this unusual housing prototype clad in a cage of corn cobs. The winner of the first Archi<20 design festival, which takes place in the protected natural area of Muttersholtz, the 20-square-meter circular home both represents and harmonizes with the surrounding landscape.

Constructed out of simple timber and organized around a large central light shaft, the Tourner Autour du Ried is oriented to maximize daylighting as the sun takes its journey across the sky each day. Interior furnishings are restricted to one bench that wraps around the perimeter of the small structure.

The north side of the small home is low-lying while the southern end is taller, opening up to the day. But the most striking aspect of this design, which cost €7,000 to realize and sits gently amid a bucolic field, is the cladding. Like the Alsace corn dryers and even their equivalent in South America, the designers incorporated corn cobs into their temporary project. This not only allows the facade to blend in with the surroundings but actually changes alongside it in tune with the seasons.